Income differentials grew in 2017

Statistics Finland's total statistics on income
distribution show that income differentials grew in 2017 compared
with the previous year. Real income increased in all income
deciles, but more for those with high income than for those with
medium and low income. The income level of the population's
highest-income decile rose by 4.4 per cent in real terms from 2016
to 2017. The income of medium income earners (income deciles V to
IX) increased by 1.3 per cent and the income of the four lowest
income deciles by 1.2 per cent. The income level of the
lowest-income decile grew by 2.2 per cent.

Change in average real income (%) by income decile
from 2016 to 2017

Income decile: the population is arranged according to income and
divided into ten equal parts, each of which has around half a
million persons. The first (I) income decile is the lowest-income
decile and the tenth (X) is the highest-income decile. Income
concept: equivalent disposable monetary income (incl. realised
capital gains) of household dwelling-unit, average per person.
Equivalent income: the household-dwelling unit’s income
divided by its consumption units (modified OECD-scale).

In 2017, the Gini coefficient describing relative income
differentials received the value 27.7, which was 0.5 percentage
points higher than in the previous year and almost on level with
2010. Compared with 1995, the Gini coefficient has grown by around
5.5 percentage points. Most of this is caused by the fast growth of
income differentials at the end of the 1990s. The income
differentials have been at their lowest in the mid-1980s. The Gini
coefficient gets the value 0 if everyone receives the same amount
of income and 100 if one income earner receives all the income. The
higher the Gini coefficient, the bigger the relative income
differentials are.

Development of income inequality 1966–2017,
Gini coefficient (%)

Persons belonging to the household-dwelling population, the
household-dwelling unit's equivalent disposable monetary income
(incl. realised capital gains). Sources: 1995 to 2017 Total
statistics on income distribution; 1986 to 1995: Income
distribution statistics (sample); 1966,1971,1976,1981 Household
Budget Survey. The missing intervening years (1967 to 1985) have
been linearly interpolated.

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF):
Total statistics on income distribution [e-publication].Income development by area 2017. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 21.3.2019].Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tjkt/2017/01/tjkt_2017_01_2018-12-18_tie_001_en.html